1) The stable version of BitlBee has now supported Jabber MUC for some time.

2) You don't need to type the identify gunk if your IRC client supports /PASS authentication. Just tell your IRC client to authenticate with your nick and password, and you're good to go.

3) If you're in the USA and don't want to cross the Atlantic (especially when congestion is high), my server (bitlbee1.asnetinc.net) is the only server in the US on the latest stable version of BitlBee (1.2.3, as I type this). As an added bonus, my server also has a CGI:IRC installation at http://cgiirc.asnetinc.net/ so you can get your IM even when you're on the road with a computer that doesn't have an IRC client. As a final bonus, I have the Skype plugin running on bitlbee1; I'm pretty sure I've got the only public server anywhere with it.

BTW - I like the way you phrased the tidbit about your favorite "Jabber client." Keep in mind that the Jabber gods no longer call Jabber Jabber, so if you don't want to incur their wrath, you'd better call it XMPP. It seems to be fairly popular practice nowadays to call it Jabber/XMPP or XMPP/Jabber (depending on which side you took in the famous JSF wars). Of course, if you want to take diplomacy to the next level, you can call it Jabber/XMPP/iChat/GTalk/WhatNext, and hope your keyboard holds up under the stress you put it through every time you talk about Jabber/XMPP/iChat/GTalk/WhatNext 😎